Tuesday, June 27, 2017

An Average Cinnamon Cereal With A Great Name: Kellogg's Cinnabon Cereal Is All Right!


The Good: Good flavor, Decent nutrition, Good scent
The Bad: A little more expensive than other, comparable, cereals, Not the most distinctive flavor
The Basics: Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is all right, but not as incredible or distinctive as one might hope for with the Cinnabon name.


When it comes to prepared foods, one of the oddest trends in the past few years has been the random licensing of major restaurants to home-based foods. One supposes that the restaurants, seeing their popularity plateau or having reached optimum market penetration within their specific niche, look to continue growing or offset losses when their fad food falls out of favor. As such, companies like Taco Bell, Panera Bread, and Dunkin' Donuts license their brand name to other companies to appear on the packaging of similar products to their restaurants' menu. One of the latest companies to move into the home foods market is Cinnabon and rather than just sell their cinnamon rolls in more stores than their restaurants and carts, Cinnabon has leased its name to Kellogg's for a cinnamon bun cereal.

And Kellogg's Cinnabon cereal is all right, but hardly extraordinary or distinctive, which is somewhat surprising given that Cinnabon bothered to put their name on the product.

Basics

Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is a fairly obvious sweetened corn cereal made to look like tiny cinnamon rolls. The standard box of Cinnabon cereal is 9 oz. That represents approximately nine servings and I managed to get eight and a quarters servings out of the box before it was just broken pieces and cinnamon dust. The Cinnabon cereal is comprised of tiny cinnamon roll pieces that are approximately 3/4" in diameter and 3/8" thick.

Ease Of Preparation

Cinnabon cereal is a breakfast cereal, so this is one of the low-impact breakfast options as far as preparation goes! Simply open the box of Cinnabon cereal, pour out a cup (I’ve taken to using a measuring cup) and add 1/2 cup of milk to it. I have discovered, as part of getting healthy, that one of the biggest challenges one might have with breakfast cereal is actually eating the serving size recommended by the manufacturer. Given that I have been monitoring my intake for the last two years, I am now able to enjoy only 1 cup of Cinnabon cereal in a sitting!

For the purposes of my reviews, and my regular consumption, I only use skim milk (fat free) milk when reviewing Cinnabon cereal.

Taste

Opening the box, Cinnabon cereal emits a powerful cinnamon aroma. The cinnamon scent is strong and distinctive, though there is nothing that clearly links the aroma to cinnamon rolls specifically. The scent from the Cinnabon cereal is good, but not distinctive to cinnamon rolls as opposed to any other cinnamon-based cereal or baked good (like coffee cake).

On its own, the Cinnabon cereal is sweet and dry. The Cinnabon cereal is predictably cinnamon flavored, but it is coated with a sweet sugary that mimics well the flavor of icing on a cinnamon roll. The cinnamon and sweetness are quite good, even if the cereal is not so potent that it instantly reminds the consumer of a cinnamon roll.

With milk, the cinnamon flavor flows into the milk, though the sweetness is maintained in each of the pieces of Cinnabon cereal. The flavor of the sugary and cinnamon pieces does not get diluted, even with the milk in it. The flavor is maintained in each and every bite.

The Cinnabon cereal has a strongly sweet aftertaste that does not stay in the mouth for very long after the last of the cereal is consumed.

Nutrition

Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is surprisingly nutritious on its own, though it does have vitamins and minerals sprayed on it. Made primarily of degerminated yellow corn meal, sugar and cinnamon topping, there is nothing unpronounceable in Cinnabon cereal. Given that there is a separate listing of vitamins and minerals, it is clear that Cinnabon cereal is one of those cereals where the nutrients are then sprayed onto the cereal, making it important to drink the milk with this cereal in order to get all of the nutritional benefits out of it.

A single serving of Kellogg’s Cinnabon cereal is 30 grams, 1 cup. In that serving, there are 120 calories, with 20 calories coming from fat. This cereal has 2 grams of fat (3% of the RDA) without any saturated or trans fats in it. There is also no cholesterol in the Cinnabon cereal. With 115 mg of sodium and a single gram of dietary fiber, this is a fairly good choice for those striving to improve heart health. With two grams of protein and 40 mg potassium, the Cinnabon cereal has a decent number of vitamin benefits to it. On its own, this cereal has 25% of the RDA eight vitamins and minerals.

Storage/Cleanup

Cinnabon is a cereal, so as long as it is kept sealed in its box, it ought to remain fresh for quite some time. Obviously, when you are done pouring the cereal from the box, fold down the plastic inner wrap to help maintain the cereal’s freshness. The box I picked up two weeks ago had an expiration date of January 29, 2018, so this seems like a safe cereal to stock up on!

Cleaning up after Cinnabon cereal is simple as well. Simply brush away crumbs left by it and you are done! It is that simple! This is a cereal that discolors the milk added to it, though, so if the milk gets on your clothing consult a fabric guide to clean it out.

Overall

Cinnabon cereal is all right, but in no way exceptional.

For other Kellogg’s cereals, please be sure to check out my reviews of:
Cinnamon Frosted Flakes
Frosted Mini-Wheats Pumpkin Spice
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Chocolatey Almond cereal

5/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the food reviews I have written!

© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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